Perry Rhodan is an immortal human who has been chronicled in German science-fiction lore. He has a deep and rich backstory, he has helped expand the known universe with the help of alien races, and he's the guy you want with you when the chips are down. He's kind of a famous fictional-adventure character for those who have followed his adventures over the years. Problem is, his longtime love has just been taken by robots and this is a point-and-click adventure, meaning, you can forget about doling out some double barrel justice. Welcome to a very frustrating game.

Let me tell you this, after going to college for law enforcement, spending ten years as an investigator and slugging it out with (honestly) hundreds of bad guys over the years, if anyone or anything ever came to snatch my wife, well lets just say I wouldn't begin trying to assemble puzzles and solve other goofy thigamajigs; I'd pick up a baseball bat and go all Manny Ramirez on everything that moved. But not our man Perry, nope, he's a thinking man's man. And since he is immortal, he apparently can't be harmed (and realizes he has plenty of time to find another girlfriend). So the developers are charged with coming up with a fun, original game idea for a man whom millions have enjoyed reading adventures about while keeping things interesting.

 
"Whadda ya mean I gotta wrestle that guy!"

So with that, the idea to make this more of a thinking-person's title was apparently made and the liberal use of point-and-click interfaces was designed. Now I have nothing against point and click. I recently played a couple of decent point-and-click adventures so I wasn't put off by the gaming style. However, the whole feel of the game kind of had me a bit uncomfortable. And I say this because of the seemingly inaneness of some of the puzzles and their complete lack of any logic in the flow of the story. Random inserting objects into holes, trying to fix doors just to get off the ship ... I don't know where this Perry fella came from, but he has the patience of Job (look it up, it's in the Bible). Regardless, the puzzles don't do beans for moving the story forward. With a science-fiction history like this, you expect a certain level of storytelling and it simply does not present itself in lame plot devices like these.

And what's worse, is that right after figuring out a goofy puzzle, you are almost immediately thrust into another scenario/mental challenge that has you really wondering "why bother?"

Add to this the hit-and-miss voice acting that should not have been an issue. Some voices have a certain conviction that helps make the story seem like it's worth more, then you run into a cardboard cutout of a human voice actor and wonder if they found him rummaging through the garbage behind the developer's offices. Yes, I am being sarcastic, but it is sad when a game can have better-than-average sound effects for a space game no less, and then only manage to get half of the voice acting right.

 
"If only I had something round shaped that was the same size as a disco ball...."

Immortals does do some actual gameplay things right. I am not only going to find everything wrong and talk about that, the cool thing about the game is that you can use the scanner to identify all the items in an area that you can manipulate. Rather than do the old hunt and peck for that one single pixel that can be activated, you can use the scanner and know. This game is frustrating enough at some points to not need something like this. And I should point out that not all puzzles are stinkers (just most of em) there is actually a few that were well thought out and implemented into the scope of the game. If not for these, the game would be scored lower then Vampire Rain for the Xbox 360 (http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r31806.htm) and that is pretty low.

On another backhanded positive note, the graphics in the game aren't all that bad. Since it is a space title with aliens and weirdo stuff happening, the game actually translates these things into some positive looking graphics. Sharp use of a pseudo-3D view in the game and some clean-looking locations meld nicely with some actual bright, popping effects. However, not all is right in the game since there is some lackluster performances in the game's cut scenes and some other in game mechanics that seem like they were rushed.

Lastly, I look at this game and think, "what if?" I know that the game has a large amount of followers of the lore, but just for fun, what if there were some legitimately tense scenes within the game. I know he is immortal, but the developers lost all sense of dread and danger for those who aren't immortal and Perry has to save. Too much time is wasted doing essentially nothing and going nowhere. I am not saying every game has to be fast paced, or a first-person shooter, but since the game has such a rich history, it would have been nice if that history along with a much more flowing story and adventure were present. I have to believe that the game deserved better.

Gameplay: 5.7
Oh, so frustrating to maneuver through the game's rough, mind-numbing puzzles, only to be treated to a good one. Too much of nothing happens in this story, and that is not a good thing. Point and click is somewhat redeemed with the use of the pixel-finding scanner.

Graphics: 7.4
The game has some good things going for it, decent character design, mean-looking bad guys, weirdo alien technology, and then follows it up with dated cut scenes.

Sound: 6.6
50/50 voice work with some above-par sound effects make this game sound a bit better than your average space opera-themed game.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
It actually helps to not have played a lot of games with puzzles in it. Having that sort of thinking experience can actually hurt your ability to get things accomplished.

Concept: 5.2
The idea of an adventure with a point-and-click interface in space is nothing new. Taking a well-known science-fiction character and putting them into a game that takes none of the advantages of that history is also, sadly, nothing new either.

Overall: 5.9
Only the most die-hard fans of the Perry Rhodan series will truly love this game. Others looking for a well-thought out and engaging adventure may want to look elsewhere.